Nanook

Was wondering from the experts what esophageal spasms feel like. For about a week I've been having chest pains right in the center especially when I am in bed lying down. I don't have reflux and never have. Is it something you need to see your surgeon for? Sorry to sound so dumb, I still have not had any fluoro one year post or anything else to check the band's condition etc.. Also I've read many people have them right after surgery is it common to have them a year post? Thanks Nancy.:crying:

Thanks for your response Privatedancer7, I think I may get more info from my primary at this point. I don't think that is my issue as I had all my fill removed last Friday and the pain comes and goes. I'm still planning on having mine removed due to the fact it has never worked for me (not a set up for an attack please) and as far as I know have no other physical issues but have never had it checked either under scope etc...so who really knows. My surgeon wants to wait a few months to remove it which is fine, I still have some restriction but from what I've heard it's more difficult to take out than it was to put in. Anyway I've read some of your posts and sorry you had so many complications and have read many more of others recently and some are pretty darn scary! Anyway good health and take care, Nancy.

Thanks kimaly, I do get tired of being on the defensive all the time and that's why I was trying to post out to people who had the band removed and were in similar situations, take care Nancy.

PS: good luck with your banding tomorrow and I wish you health and success, the surgery was a breeze to me as I've been through many surgeries prior and this by far was the easiest! dwrd73, Sorry if I come across as angry to you but most of my anger and frustration is really directed towards posters and past posters who have insulted me due to the fact that I have not done well with the band and made note of it on this forum. If I were to go to another forum, which I have I would be supported and given suggestions, normally they do tend to deal with revisions but at least they've been where I have and tend to be a bit more understanding. It's not the treatment by the majority of people here only a few that have come across as sour to me so I don't want people to get the wrong impression. There are mostly wonderful people here but once in a while I'm attacked and I suppose anyone would be who tends to have some sort of issue relating to the lap band and are honest about it. As of right frame of mind I am not having a revision surgery and plan to keep the band for a few months, my surgeon's request, to make sure removal is the right choice for me. I've had problems from the get go and I've been banded for over a year now and don't really think more time is necessary. Just because I had a problem with my lap band and want to discuss it, it isn't my intention to take away from those with success. I came to this thread, "Life After Lap Band Removal" because I really want to know about others with similar situations to mine and am not asking for people to try to talk me out of it as it's a done deal and am content and happy with my decision. People sometimes need to know they are not the only one, but in reality they probably aren't here anymore if you know what I mean, thanks Nancy.

kimaly, I think that you were just being "reactive" as it was my post and it was a post about me and my band issues. I have no problem with people not agreeing with me as that's what the world of forums are for but as you've been banded for a month and I've been banded for just over a year now I think I know a bit more about my body than you might. Plus feel free to add all you know to the "Life After Lap-Band Removal" forum as I'm sure you're an expert. As you were not in my situation you cannot relate or obviously understand what impact being under-filled was for the first three month was like as I trusted my tech to be a professional. I know now to question all professionals. She also was the same tech that did not read how much fill I had a third time and put in an extra cc in that sent me to an emergency visit with an on-call surgeon after midnight and also blew off my daughter who had been vomiting for days after 3 months post-op RNY and was then that night in the ER getting IV fluids and then the following day admitted to the hospital for an endoscopy and a dilation of her stoma. So though you think I'm not taking credit for my "failure" of the band I think I have the right to vent a bit about a tech who has made four mistakes so far and the one that was made on my daughter ranks to be the worse in my book anyway. We now avoid her at all costs! I think anyone would. Basically I was responding to a poster who asked me why I had problems with the band and was trying to give her information without "bashing" the band as that was not my intent. I do not know the statistics of those who do not do well on the band and as one can see who does not just "react" to my posts but actually reads them and understands them people who have issues with the band are individuals with circumstances that add to their failures, it's normally not as simple as just doing A or B. Although I have read posts of people who just freak out that they have a foreign object in their body and want it removed fairly soon post-surgery, that would be a different situation. I had to analyze why I was eating the wrong foods while banded and why it wasn't working for me, doesn't mean to say that I've never taken credit for my part to me that's obvious. I had the intention in the beginning like everyone else here does and did the five week liquid diet and was able to lose the 25 pounds that they expected but it just wasn't working out as I had expected it to. As someone who has been dieting since they were young, also knows what it's like to drop 100 pounds twice only to gain it back again I know a bit about losing weight and it got tougher and tougher as I got older and also while on my antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds. I don't know if you have a difficult time understanding that part of the picture or maybe you do but once off those meds I can lose weight but I tent do have a major breakdown during that time which is not worth it to me. I really thought the band would over-ride some of these stumbling blocks for me which it did not. It wasn't something that I would have known prior to banding, it was trial and error and after a year of trial and error and also working with my endocrinologist to get my meds right again I'm hoping to now get to a healthier me. You don't have to feel sorry for me and I don't see where I'm "giving" up on the band, to me that's just silly! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell me that the band was not the right solution for me. It maybe the right solution for 99% of all people but I'm that one lone 1%. I'm being generous with this percentage as I have no idea of the actual one. Anyway being straight forward can be a wonderful way to communicate at times and in the right situation but not always taken in the "spirit" as it was intended. I know there is a group out there that believes in "tough love" and that their posts are only there to inspire and help those of us who are not in touch with reality but they need to really think about how they come across as it is not really that helpful and they end up looking pompous. Oh and I accept your apology, thanks Nancy.

kimaly, I shouldn't even bother with you as you obviously have your knickers up in knots! I believe I opened up a thread here on the "Life After Lap-Band Removal" thread and if you have something to add to that particular subject feel free to post otherwise you'd probably be happier in Rants and Raves, thanks Nancy.:biggrin:

Hope things are going well for you and not too crazy!!! It's nice to have a person who can at least be a bit empathetic when it's needed. Take care Nancy.:smile:

Thanks Susan you've always been supportive here at LBT something we all appreciate, thanks Nancy. :biggrin:

I'm not sure why I couldn't work the band but I couldn't. I was at a point prior to my surgery last year that I had a really difficult time sticking to a restrictive diet and was also on antidepressants and anti anxiety meds which don't help, lol. Anyway given the pressures that most women have to be thin I thought this would be the answer and was probably not given enough information ahead of time and thought that the pitfalls that people had, like eating ice cream while banded would not affect me. I thought that I could eat normally but smaller portions because of the band and I would lose weight. I was under filled for a while by the mistake of my fill tech and I had no idea I was practically unfilled for the first three months post-surgery and was chewing like crazy anyway, lol. I had not lost any weight and began gaining as I had no restriction. After being on a liquid diet for five weeks prior your body normally wants to go out of starvation mode so that's pretty normal if you're not restricted. Then my surgeon checked my fill and found the error as my fill tech did not know the size of my band which was in my chart and boom put in a little over 3 ccs which brought me up to almost 3.5ccs. So right before Thanksgiving I was feeling pretty tight! That's when you're pbing after Protein etc... and was new to me. Due to the fact that it was the holiday season I tried a cookie or two and found that they went down without a problem. Now as I went from no fill to a lot of fill I don't know if it was a mind game or what but because I was choking up on protein and veg and my body wanted food I would eat the foods that lap banders are not supposed to eat just to get it in as people tend to do. Then every time I'd go meet with the fill tech, which was on a normal basis I gained a pound or two and her answer "more fill". Which I now know we should have been more gradual and the 3.5 was too much. But whatever. So eventually I'm up to close to my original weight 253, down to almost 225 after surgery so this was very frustrating to me and of course my doctor's office just saw it as I needed to be filled more and I eventually came here to find out answers. Maybe there aren't that many people like me, most people seem to do well and lose the weight or get a revision once they've realized the band wasn't the ideal surgery for them. But I'm tired of focusing on the weight and diet all the time and didn't want the lap band to be another diet which it became, in my mind. Now there will be plenty of others who will slam me and have that I'm just lazy, or I refuse to follow the "rules" but sorry I didn't get the lap band to make my life worse I thought it would make losing weight easier and it didn't. I'm not the only one, I know that but this site tends to condemn anyone who doesn't follow the rules and has problems with the band because "bands don't fail, people do" is the motto! So although it didn't work the way I wanted it to and expected it to I'm going to have it removed and as crazy as it sounds not get a revision surgery. I would if I were much heavier than I am and couldn't walk or couldn't breath or something was keeping me from living a full life but I can do all those things I just happen to be fat and not a size that our culture seems to idealize. I understand the pressures we woman have to look a certain way but is it us or the people that are putting the pressures on us? Anyway that's my story and like I said I'm pretty rare in this aspect especially in this particular forum but I'm happy not to have that pressure over my head anymore! Take care Nancy:smile:

I took fen phen for a time about 10 years ago, could be later than that and just prior to having it taken off the market. At the time it was wonderful for me as I was an at home transcriptionist and as it can be very boring I could only type for about four hours until needing a nap! It gave me a major energy boost to help with the typing and I also was taking off weight rapidly. Then it was taken off by the FDA and I put back what I had lost. The energy level was something that helped me in weight loss and was not something I experienced with the lap band. I'm also on a lot of meds that tend to slow me down a lot and it counteracted those for a time. Naturally it was a drug that was damaging peoples' hearts and needed to be pulled off but made many of us sad.:tongue: It was a big issue during all my preop testing though and they made me have an echocardiogram because of the fen phen to make sure there was no damage done and I had only been on fen phen for a month or two at the most. My heart was fine. Hope this helps, Nancy.

Edwards is done with!!

Well glad to see BJean is still around fighting the good cause(s)! take care Nancy.:cursing:

Hope you're doing better BJean, saw that you had surgery, cheese binds, Nancy:smile:

Wow just more stuff to worry about, I was put on cholesterol lowering drugs, high blood pressure meds, just part of my daily cocktail now! I wish someone knew how to treat us, it's so insane. Just proves they need to study obesity a lot more! Nancy.

I have only lost a bit since banded, started by gaining and now going down again but along the way my cholesterol went up, first time ever, and my blood pressure has been high and I'm on meds for both now. My diabetes II is worse also. Who knows maybe it's age, maybe it's eating more protein but I have no idea all I know is my doctor is worried too and I'll see what my surgeon says tomorrow on my one year anniversary. Good luck and hope you get some answers, Nancy.:smile2:

IMHO if someone gets the sleeve that's fine and they can discuss but if it's anything other than that they're really going to feel more comfortable at other forum sites especially since this is called Lapbandtalk...I don't really feel it's other WLS-friendly here even if we add the other surgery threads, as you can see it's not very busy there. Nancy.

Good point, I think I know a lot of people like that too! My sister for one although she's on her second husband and lost the weight prior to leaving the first but I think it was her desire to leave her husband that helped with the weight loss, got into an new relationship immediately and is now married and so far I've been told twice by her already that she's going to leave him. He's a much younger version of her first husband. She got the tummy tuck but only because she combined it with surgery to repair her breast due to cancer and it saved a bit of money that way and has now put back the weight that she lost prior to leaving her husband. Sometimes I see it as a dissatisfaction with one's self than anything. Does that make sense. I mean she's unhappy with herself it really doesn't matter who she's with really. Just my opinion. Nancy.

Well you're one of the first honest people here, lol, because you know very few will admit to it and naturally it's why I lost 100 pounds twice in my life(in my 20s) but now I'm at the point where the lap band didn't work like I thought it would, does it mean I need to kill myself no, I'll just go on as is and it's not the end of the world. I'm tired of struggling and focusing on being thin all the time, it's not worth it anymore to me! Good luck to you, Nancy.

When I was dehydrated one time when I had an accidental over fill (due to the wrong amount written down from the previous fill) the one thing I had to have was a few sips of "real" Coke, not diet or anything else. It was like my body knew instinctively what it needed, lol. I don't drink soda's that often but if I have a bad craving I'll have a diet A&W once in a while and I don't think it would hurt and sometimes some sparkling wine too but not at the same time! But as someone who is pre-surgery it's probably better to be more diligent about the rules as I was not, Nancy.

So Manatee does that mean that most people's desire for WLS is driven by their desire for sex?

Dealing with a parent who died from alcoholism (found dead on the floor with a glass of scotch still frozen in his hand) is hard enough if I have to do this again with a sibling or a child I don't know if I could as it's so painful!!! Good luck to you and your family and get support for yourself. Nancy.:thumbup:

I've only been with my husband for 28 years but I think you can tell early on if the person you're with is superficial or not. I know plenty of people who talk about their spouses in ways that I've never considered. Picking on physical attributes etc... Sometimes it's behind their back or in their face and in front of others. When I hear talk like that or people complaining in such a way I know it's not long before they're hitting the divorce court. Nancy.

I had bad headaches since I was banded also and attributed it to my CPAP machine at one point due to the head gear you have to wear and the spot where my headache was always on my right side. My in-laws came up and left and so did the headaches so in some respect they could have been stress related. I had to see a PT for arthritis I have in my neck and his first reaction was thinking it could be related to high blood pressure which was normal at the time he took it but I have since then been diagnosed with HBP and am on meds for that. I then acquired a temporary crown about a month ago and because of the nerves being awoken in some way I was in pain until I got the permanent one last week. I was told there was nothing I could do for that pain except take over the counter stuff, which naturally they suggested ibuprofen but we are told Tylenol and nothing else. So because the pain was happening every 5 hours or so I was downing 2000 mg of Tylenol at a shot for over a month! I'm discussing this with my nurse practitioner today who was upset at the fact that I was taking so much, some people have tried to kill themselves on this and also told me it can do liver and kidney damage at that amount which I had no idea of. You probably are aware of it due to the fact you're in a medical field but just thought you'd like to hear it also from a dummy like me. Now that the tooth is better the headaches have returned. I think you give one pain away for another or something weird like that. I'm trying not to take as much Tylenol as I used to and had a normal CAT scan previously but due to other health issues need to have some more tests done not related to headaches but you never know if that might solve the problem. Because of my diabetes they always recommend eye exams every year but that may not be an issue for you. Covered all the bases I know of good luck and hope you get it resolved soon! Nancy.:thumbup:

That's OK I trust you. Sometimes we read something and it hits us where the writer doesn't expect, which probably happened with you too! Take care Nancy

Thanks for the clarification I just want to make sure that we don't label fat people as anything less human or not as "good" as others as it's something we face every day of our lives, Nancy.:thumbup: